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I think it started before WJC got into office. The most polarizing event in the 20th century was Nixons resignation and the subsequent take over of Congress by the Dems. The dive into polarization accelerated under Carter and Reagan. By the time WJC got into office, it was already pretty strong. The attempted impeachment of WJC was a further push down the path of polarization. By the time of the 2000 election, things were pretty much out of hand and it continues today.

Did I miss something? I'd swear Clinton WAS impeached.

I've got a crazy theory on the vitriol that developed during Clinton's years. I was conscious during the Clinton presidency, so I'm aware there were scandals literally every other week and that the Republicans rightly went after him. I believe there were sufficient grounds that any intellectually honest person would admit he was corrupt. The Democrats were placed between a rock and a hard place. Either accept the message that their leader was corrupt or attack the messenger. And the more corrupt their leader, the more they needed to paint the Republicans as corrupt. Before Clinton, Congress wasn't sitting around the campfire signing Kumbaya, but corruption was a word saved for the truly corrupt. During and after Clinton's presidency, everyone had to be corrupt so that no one was.